Today I got a much better feel for the culture and history of Cyprus.
The sky was shrouded in clouds across the whole island for a change. To me, this was a welcomed break from the sweltering heat of the sun, and it made my sightseeing more enjoyable. To start, we visited the ancient ruins of Kourioun. I am always fascinated to witness the remnants of cultures so distant from my own in the present day. Sometimes it’s hard to remember that we’re not the only humans to have ever lived because we can’t directly experience the past. However, by visiting historical sites such as this one, valuable insight can be gleaned into what life was truly like back then. After viewing the remains of an ancient house that included thousand-year-old pipes, we moved on to the amphitheater. This large stadium was truly a marvel just to look at, but the history behind it made it even more interesting. Apparently, the amphitheater was built when the Greeks had control of the island as a place for concerts. This was evident by the acoustics of the amphitheater, which projected the speech of whoever was speaking on stage. Then, the use of the amphitheater changed when the island came under Roman control. They used it for their famous gladiator matches. They would import exotic animals from Asia and Africa to battle against gladiators It was very cool to see something that I’ve seen in the movies in real life.
After Kourioun, we visited other cultural sites such as Aphrodite’s rock and the mosaics. I’ve heard that Cyprus was a vacation spot for wealthy Europeans, and that made sense to me when visiting Aphorodites rock. The waters were crystal clear, unlike anything I had ever seen. We then climbed a giant rock which was a personal highlight of the trip for me. Later, the mosaics showed an exquisite level of detail. Thousands of small identical tiles came together to make geometrical patterns, and show the myths of the Ancient Greek gods. It was inspiring to see the amount of work ancient humans put in all to show a high level of aesthetic beauty. It seems that something like that wouldn’t happen today.
Today I gained a much better understanding of the history of Cyprus.